Genesis 18:16-17. 16Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. 17The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,
Do you have a best friend, or best friends? If you do, then you probably share your secrets, your thoughts, your dreams with them. That’s exactly what God does with Abraham here in Genesis 18.
You remember that three visitors have come to see Abraham and Sarah at their tent. Two of these three visitors are angels, but the third visitor is God himself. Jesus actually. Jesus didn’t come to see Abraham just to have lunch with him, or only to tell him that Sarah was going to have a baby. He came to tell Abraham his plan – Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
Friends don’t hide things from each other do they? Friends tell each other everything. In other parts of the Bible, Abraham is called a friend of God. So what does God do? He tells his friend, Abraham, what he’s thinking. What is God talking about? What is he going to do? He explains to Abraham:
Genesis 18:20-21. 20Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, 21I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”
Do you remember who lives in Sodom? That’s right, Lot does. Lot is Abraham’s nephew that left him behind and moved into the wicked city of Sodom. Jesus tells Abraham that there is a great outcry against Sodom. That means that the people in Sodom that are being hurt and mistreated are crying out to God. So what would a good God do? He would come down to Earth, to Sodom, and see what is going on for himself – I will go down to see.
Yesterday, we talked about righteousness and justice. Doing what is right and fixing what is wrong. That is exactly what God wants to do in Sodom. So why does God tell Abraham his plan? Because he wants Abraham to do righteousness and justice too. Because Abraham is God’s friend, his partner, God wants him to be a part of the plan to do righteousness and justice in Sodom.
Do you think God wants you to know his plans?
The Bible says that he does. Why? Because when we trust in Jesus we become a friend of God too. We become his partner because, like Abraham, we are in a covenant with God through Jesus.
That doesn’t mean that God is going to tell us every little thing that will happen to us. But it does mean that God has told us all the big and important things that are going to happen. We call this God’s WILL. God’s will is what he wants to happen and what will happen (God always gets what he wants). And God has made his will known to us in Jesus. Here’s how Paul says it in the book of Ephesians:
Ephesians 1:9-10. 9[God has made] known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in him.
What is God’s plan? To unite all things in the world in Christ. That means God wants everything and everyone to be under the loving authority of Jesus. Remember, friends don’t keep secrets from each other. And God hasn’t kept anything secret from you. He has told you everything you need to know when he sent Jesus to live for us and die on the cross for us.
Where do we come from? From Jesus (he made us).
Where are we going? To be with Jesus in Heaven.
Why were we born? To be loved by Jesus and to love Jesus (and everyone else).
What is my purpose? To follow Jesus.
Is God good? Yes, look at Jesus.
Will God punish sin? Yes, look at the cross of Jesus.
What will happen in the future? Jesus will win and everything will be united to him!
Yes, it is true, we do not know what will happen tomorrow. We don’t know our immediate future. Will we get sick? Where will we go to high school? Will we fall in love? Will anything bad happen? Will something great happen, today? Most things that happen in our day to day lives, God does not reveal to us ahead of time. But he has revealed all the big answers to us. And God’s big answer is Jesus. That means that no matter what happens tomorrow, we know that God loves us and is watching over us. He is inviting us to be a part of his plan, just like Abraham. To do righteousness and justice no matter what happens today. To help bring everything under the authority of Jesus by sharing his love with everyone that we meet.
You: How does God let us know what his will is? Does he appear to us like he did with Abraham? What about the Bible? How does it reveal God’s will to us?
You with Jesus: Are there any big questions about life that you have been thinking about? How is Jesus the answer to that question?
Prayer: Father, you are my friend, and you have told me everything I need to know through Jesus. Help me to tell you everything too. I don’t want to have secrets from you, my best friend. Amen.
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